Moving to keep warm on a windy day

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Cyclops and YHC(Bass-o-Matic)  were blessed with the opportunity to have the Q at the Fort.  As we discussed that we had nothing really planned, nobody would have believed it as it came together nicely.

A brief intro, disclaimer and welcome Slim Jim from the New Bern PAX we started right into the warmup as we waited for stragglers to roll in.  We did the typical SSH, Windmills, merkins, imperial walkers, peter parkers and plank jacks.  A brief challenge to the group on how do you plan for the unexpected and how do you respond to those situations?  Now that everyone was ready we split off with Milkshake and moseyed to one of my favorite walls across from the memorial park.

Since the PAX looked a little tired we started of with some wall sits.  This is where it started getting a little saucy.  Round 1 each PAX did a 10 count with an arm variation until we go to the end.  Short 20 second break.  Round 2 Each PAX did 10 bombjacks till we made it down the line.  Saw some great form from the pax.

Changed it up and went to the plan position.  Each PAX held the plan until we went down the line with plank jacks.  20 second recovery and then repeated with mtn. climbers.

Rinse and repeat.  Went back to wall sits with squats for round 1 and SSH for round two.  Funny how quick 30 minutes went and then it was time to hand it over to Cyclops.

We moseyed from the Springs lot to Footloose – a good sojourn.  Once all PAX came in, we circled up for a 10-20-30 pyramid:

10 burpees OYO, 20 squats in cadence (because Bass-o-Matic did no leg work in his half of the Q ; – ) and 15 double count merkins in cadence.  After merkin completion, PAX stretched out from the plank with salutations to the left and right then holding 6 inches off the ground while Tesh gave an efficient 10 count.

We moseyed from Footloose to the front of the Fort Mill Police Department, held a belated veterans day Pledge of Allegiance to honor all who serve, and then moseyed on to Main street for more “fun”.

On the main street benches, PAX did 20 dips and 20 derkins OYO and then we moseyed to the Founders Bank lot for the “main act”

7’s –  6 Kracken Burpees on the horizontal parking space line, lunge walk to the opposite side (because we needed more leg work), 1 Carolina Dry Dock, mosey back to the line, 5 kracken burpees, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s, mosey back……etc. etc. etc. all the way down too 1 KB and 6 CDD’s to finish. PAX finished at this lot before moseying by holding a squat position and did 10 Moroccan night clubs in cadence.  A quick recovery via a 10-count and we moseyed back to the East side of WEP.

At the .1 mile drill bit – Pax bunched up for some more work:  15 double count flutters in cadence, 10 burpees OYO (just because) and 10 double count diamond merkins.  A little mumble chatter came about…but just a little – likely due to the love of burpees and diamond merkins.

A quick mosey back to COT brought us to a few minutes of Mary – which included 15 box cutters in cadence and 45 (ish) seconds worth of protractor work – PAX seemed to enjoy holding legs 6 inches off the ground after completing box cutters making the transition to the protractor more “fun”.  For some reason, pre-mature a count off started at this point – I don’t know why.

We wrapped up at 0730 per custom and moved to name-o-rama, announcements. praises and prayers.

Praise for the health care providers who are caring for many sick friends and family, who are in our thoughts, including Tesla’s Mom and Cyclops’ Dad who are battling forms of cancer.  And for Assassin who is working through an infection and awaiting biopsy results. Slim Jims grandson who is recovering from illness. Kenyan’s loss of his M; prayers for comfort and peace.

Read your newsletter.

 

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2

A cool, Shady, 38 degree Special morning

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11 PAX woke up on a cool Saturday morning in November of 2019. Little did any of them know that immediately after the disclaimer they would be headed for the much maligned Tega Cay Drive hill of pain.

The mosey immediately headed that way as YHC (38 Special) led the PAX down the hill. Everyone circled up for 25 SSH, 15 Low Slow Squats, and 15 mountain climbers.  Some good Saturday morning mumblechatter including some compliments about the length of certain PAX’s shorts and the decade in which they might have been procured.  That was plenty “warm up”.

The Thang: Part 1

PAX counted off by 2’s. 2’s were instructed to run the 150M hill backwards. Team 1 to lag behind so eyes were going forward and backward. YHC was pleased to hear Team 1 offer quality mumblechatter on the way up in the way of encouragement.

At the top of the hill, everyone ran back down and Team 1 took their turn to run backwards while Team 2 pulled mumblechatter duty.  Now that every quad was suitably inflamed it was time for phase two of part one.

Until YHC’s time was out, we would run 11’s.  Starting behind the western baseball diamond, double count stepups. Run the roughly 100m to to the benches just before the pullup bars and do burpees.  If, somehow, anyone were to finish, it would have added 2k to their bragging rights. Some got to 4 step ups left, others 6.

YHC used the last minute of his time to speak briefly about pushing oneself in order for the group. The above was selected not because I could kill it, but because I knew I could do it with commitment, and without killing myself, and sorta, maybe tried to encourage others to do the same.

The Thang: Part 2

Shady took over and wasted no time running the PAX over the baseball field and into the parking lot, stopping near the playground.  Everyone paired up for what Shady said would be your ‘basic’ Dora. There was a brief lament about the lack of bricks when one of the PAX brought to everyone’s attention that there were some large rocks at the bottom of the trail.

If YHC were a geologist, he’d have called these rocks “boulders” (any rock with a diameter of > 25.6cm)…

Run back up the trail and into the playground.  Round one of the Dora was
100 – Hand Release Merkins
200 – Shoulder (boulder) Press
300 – Flutter

YHC wants to point out that the first two parts of that set were brutal.

When the set was over, Shady spoke to the PAX about his word of the year and encouraged everyone to think about theirs again. Some of the PAX talked briefly about their words as well. After this 10 count was concluded it was time to move onto round two.
100 – Incline rows
200 – Boulder curls
300 – LBC

YHC would also like to point out that the incline rows, while being sufficiently difficult, made some of the PAX look utterly ridiculous, and as most of us know, PAX would allow any of their brothers to look that ridiculous without drawing a great deal of attention to the fact.  It’s just good manners.

Time ran out during the LBCs and there was one more run down into the woods to return their boulders to their homes.  Joined up at COT.

Announcements: Thanksgiving convergence on 11/28 @The Ranch, HTL convergence on 11/23 @WEP and the Christmas Party 12/6 ~Baxter area. Everyone who knows Kenyan is invited to join the celebration of Life for his departed wife that morning.

There were also some prayers and praises lifted up to Sky Q’s consideration.

The PAX dispersed…

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5

Two Shared A Milkshake

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Today at Milkshake,  we only had to show up.

So I decided just to make it pretty simple and what we did was a tour of Fort Mill.

Crab Cakes and I  walked down toward the churches and the gun shop and stopped alongthe way to do a few exercises here and there.

We talked about where we grew up and talked about the crazy wind this morning.

We met up with The Fort main group at one point and hung out for a bit and then headed back to COT.

Thankfully the rain held off until we were almost finished.

Thanks  Shady  for the chance to lead.

Remember Kenyan in your prayers.

DT out.

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McDonald’s for Breakfast

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Warm-O-Rama:
-20 Peter Parker Peters
-10 Low Slow Toe Squats (don’t fall over Trucker)
-20 Flutter Kicks With Arm Flutters
-20 Hello Dolly With Flutter Kicks
-15 Calf Raises While Holding Al Gore
Mosey to wall for:
-20 People’s Chair With Arm Flutters
-10 Alternating Shoulder Taps While Holding BTTW

The Thang:

4 corners with station in the middle.
In the middle we all did 5 body bag builders for stations 1-4 each time while burpee broad jumping to the station and back, then 15 flutter kick & arm stations 5-8 and did duck walk from the middle to the station and back.
Station: exercise (all in cadence and together as a group)
1: Air chair and overhead claps x 15
2: Low slow jump squats x 15
3: Superman position + Moroccan NC’s x 15
4: CDD + donkey kick x 15
5: Derkin + shoulder tap x 15
6: Dying cockroach + flutter kick x 15
7: Aussie snow angels x 15
8: American hammer + lbc x 15

Trucker for a 10 count and mosey to open parking lot. Pick a partner and stand 8 parking spaces apart. Meet partner in the middle and knock out 10 clap merkins. Method of transport for round 1 is bear crawl to partner, crawl bear back. Round 2 crab walk forward, 10 clap merkins, crab walk backward.  Repeato.  Cot.

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1990s HIITs

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Nine in total arrived. The rain held off, but conditions were still slick.

Warm Up
Mosey run
SSH (IC 10x)
Windmill (IC 10x)
Imperial Walker (IC 10x)
Low Slow Squats (IC10x)
Headed towards the benches area under the awning in front of the school.

Thang 1: HIIT Routine
The winner of Twitter poll, for which decade of rock to play during the workout, was the 1990’s!  Playlist is at end of BB.
Set A: Do the below 32 seconds on, 10 sec standing rest in between
Merkins
Cherry Pickers
Squats
Dips
Bobby hurleys
Set B: Do the below 40 seconds on, 20 sec rest in between (rest is a Low Plank)
Mountain Climbers
LBC
Derkins
Amer Hammers
plank jacks
Set C: Do the below 45 seconds on, 15 sec standing rest in between
Flying Squirrels
Imp Walkers
Squat Jumps
step ups
SSH
Rinse/Repeat sets

Thang 2: Thunderstruck burpee routine
Played AC/DC’s Thunderstruck (Just squeaked in being released in 1990); do a burpee every time you hear thunder/thunderstruck.

Fini, COT

Prayers for those under doctor’s care. It’s been a heavy week, make sure to hug your kids/family.

Most of those in attendance were in our forties, so the 1990’s music was during our ‘coming of age’ years. Set B was a real core burner due to the low plank rest.

Playlist, year of release noted.
1. Everlong, Foo Fighters, 1997
2. Only happy when it rains, Garbage, 1995 (Shirley Manson representing Scotland)
3. The Beautiful People, Marilyn Manson, 1996 (Slash noted this song was written in Charlotte)
4. Lump, Presidents of the United States, 1995
5. Sabotage, Beastie Boys, 1994
6. Pepper, Butthole Surfers, 1996 (…pourin’ like an avalanche comin’ down the mountain…)
7. Enter sandman, Metallica, 1991
8. Flag pole sitta, Harvey Danger, 1997
9. Song 2, Blur, 1997 (Woo hoo!)
10. Thunderstruck, ACDC, 1990 (burpee challenge, always a crowd pleaser)

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2

Footloose in Fort Mill

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Five men met in downtown Ft. Mill for a boot camp workout on a brisk South Carolina morning.  Here is what they did:

Warm up with some walking stretches:  knee to chest, ankle to waist, lunge twists, toy soldiers, and arm circles.  Mosey along Monroe White Street to Tom Hall and head towards Maint Street.

Circle up in the Kimbrell’s parking lot.  All in cadence:

SSH x 20,  windmill x 10, merkin x 7, squat x 20, mountain climber x 15/hold plank/right and left arm and leg high/hold/6″/regular/6″/regular 5 merkins, LBC x 15, IW x 15, Morrocan night club x 25 while walking along Main St.

Mosey on Main Street, take a left onto Confederate,  and assume people’s chair along the building across from the Improper Pig (take in the smell of smoked meat…)

Hold People’s chair with overhead arm claps.  Recover and then BTTW and hold until all pax did a 10 count.  Repeat this two more times.

Mosey to the side walk along Millstone Park, find a partner.

R1:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 merkins, while partner 2 does SSH’s

R2:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 bombjacks while partner 2 does squats

R3:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 burpees while partner 2 does calf raises.

R4:  Everyone together, bear crawl up the hill and do 10 merkins in cadence.

R5:  Repeat R4

Mosey to the Ft. Mill Police parking lot for ABLAB:

Freddie Merc x 15, flutter x 15, American hammer x 15, Superman x 3.

End with the body destroyer

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

It was pretty cold this morning.  When I arrived at the church, there were a handful of cars in the lot and no one was outside.   I started stretching outside and thought the guys would come out and join me, but no takers.  No one left their car until about 5:14 and I actually had to coax Uhaul out of his car so we could start the workout.

Once we got moving,  though, everyone warmed up pretty well.  We moved through town and took advantage of the buildings, lots, and green spaces available in the area.  This was my first Q at Footloose and it was fun to explore this great AO.   Welcome back, Kotter:  I had not seen Lil’E in a long time and it turns out he’s been on an extended fartsack leave.  Good to have you back, brother and let’s keep it going.  It was a pleasure to lead the group today.  T-claps to Boss Hogg who went for a solo walk this morning, but re-joined us at precisely 6:00 on the dot.   That’s impressive timing my friend.  Anchorman and Barry Manilow finished their run and met us for COT.

Announcements, prayers, and praises:

Read  your newsletter.

Prayers for Kenyan and his family.

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Pre-Blast Thanksgiving Convergence and Ranch Site Q Hand-off

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All PAX,

 The Ranch will be hosting the annual Thanksgiving breakfast full of pain and discomfort.  We will also be conducting a Site Q transition as Ruby Slippers will take the reigns of the Ranch.

The annual convergence is a great opportunity to be with your F3 brothers in fellowship expressing our appreciation for how they helped us accelerate being leaders at work, in our our communities and most importantly at home. 

 The Q’s will be Ranch Site Q’s past (Cake Boss – site founder), present (Jiffy) and future (Ruby Slippers).

And as always, stay for the post activities as we have McGruff (also another Ranch Site Q) and Change Order cooking the annual F3 Turkey.

Post time will be 6am – 7am with Turkey following.

Location is The Ranch, Springfield Elementary parking lot (soccer fields in front)

All AOs are converging this day at The Ranch.

Any questions, let Jiffy know.

More updates to come and please plan on kicking off Thanksgiving with your F3 brothers…

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8

On Frozen Pond

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I arrived a little before 5am to prepare for my Q since it was my first at the Minnow Pond.  As it got closer to 5:10 am, I was worried I would be running solo since no one was around and the temperature was below 30 degrees.  I was thinking about what I would write for the backblast..Lost fish at Minnow Pond, Finding Nemo, Frozen Fishstick.  No need to worry, soon there were several cars pulling into the parking lot.  Now I just needed to focus on the Q.

Due to the cold weather, short disclaimer and no warm-ups.  The six of us ran a one mile warm up around the neighborhood surrounding Walter Elisha Park.  We stopped in the parking lot for the next portion of the workout.

I designed a mini cross country course (a bit over a half a mile) in honor of the Fort Mill XC team reaching the State Finals this weekend.  Sharkbait, my 2.0, is part of the team.  I mentioned how proud it is to see your children reach milestones and accomplishments.  A year ago, it was alot different story.  My son struggled and had lots of excuses for why he was not performing at his potential.  I tried my best to balance being supportive and tough love.  He had to be responsible for taking ownership of his training if he wanted to get better.  This summer, he trained almost everyday with some of the top runners in the area.  The hot summer heat and even the rain did not stop him.  The results were great, he started every varsity race this year and had a 5K PR last week of 17:20.

My reason for mentioning this is obvious I am proud of my son, but also the old adage is true.  You have to work for the things you want.  The easy example is posting to workouts in the gloom, the more frequently you do it, the better you will be physically.  It works the same way with our relationships (M and 2.0s).  Put the time in and its almost guaranteed to be positive.

Ok, back to the workout.  Each lap began with 10 leg lunges, 10 monkey humpers, and 10 calf raises.

Half mile XC course:  Run up to the top of the hill beside the soccer field, lap around the parking lot, down Self Street to the corner of the park, back down to the WEP parking lot.

Reverse direction each time.

We each did this course 3 to 4 times before we headed back.  Before COT, we ran over to the staircase across the street and did a few sets are stair repeats.

Great job by everyone today!

We keep Kenyan and his family in our prayers during this difficult time.

 

 

 

 

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4

Veterans Day beat down at the Badger

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Started with a light run and warm up routine.

Partner pull ups X 40

Discussed the importance of thanking a Veteran today for their service to our country.

Facts about Veteran’s Day
– Veteran’s Day originated as “Armistice Day” signaling the end of World War I on Nov 11, 1919 paying tribute to all soldiers fallen or living.
– There are 18.2 million living veterans that have served in at least 1 war as of 2018
– 9% of veterans are women
– of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II, about 496,000 are still alive as of 2018
– Random fact, the top 3 states with the highest percentage of Veterans were Alaska, Maine, and Montana.

The Thang

Rd 1 = 30 merkins, 30 squats, 20 BB situps, 1 lap
Rd 2 = 15 burpees, 20 lunges, 30 LBCs, 1 lap
Rd 3 = 25 Mac-tar-jies, 25 monkey humpers, 20 bomb jacks, 1 backwards lap

Rinse and Repeat

Finished with Mary

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2

Golden Corral vs Fire Ant – 11/26/2019

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  • QIC: Lutefisk, Router, and others
  • When: 11/26/2019
  • Posted In: Pre-Blast

ATTENTION!!!!  Men of The Fort, prepare thyself for a site vs site beatdown Thanksgiving week!  Now that Fire Ant has moved back in with it’s daddy (Golden Corral), we must know who has the nastiest Q’s out there.  Special launch time 0500 at Golden Corral’s location.  SIX (that’s right, 6) Q’s at ten minutes a piece will battle it out to earn your votes for the nastiest site beatdown.  It’ll look something like this: as a group, first Q (maybe Boot Camp, maybe Ruck) lays the smack down for 10 mins. Next 10 mins the group will get the opposing site’s beatdown from another Q.  Flapjack until 0600.  Show up to find out who the other Q’s are and cast your votes.  The Fort must know… who has the beatdown kings?!?!?  #showtoknow

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